Katusha denied licence for 2013 cycling season
Moscow, Dec 11 (IANS/RIA Novosti)
Russia's Katusha cycling team has been denied a WorldTour competition licence for 2013, the governing UCI body said.
"The request from the team Katusha for registration in first division has been rejected," a statement on the UCI website said.
Eighteen teams were granted licences.
The teams are required to meet four criteria to earn a licence: sporting, ethical, financial and administrative.
Katusha appeared to meet the sporting criterion, with riders performing well enough in recent times to be in the sport's top 15 teams.